Domestic Abuse Overlooked in Military Culture

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Domestic abuse is an often overlooked problem within the military. This issue has had recent media attention due to the three deaths of soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg, NC, and the recent discovery of a missing Fort Bliss soldier who had been beaten and stabbed by her husband.

Sadly, this isn’t the first time a rash of women has been killed in the Fort Bragg area. In the summer of 2002, four (or five depending on the source) women were killed by their Army husbands in the span of just a few weeks. Also, according to Mother Jones, “Including nonfatal incidents, there were 832 victims of domesticviolence between 2002 and 2004 at Fort Bragg alone, according to Armyfigures.”

Fort Bragg is a huge base with several thousand troops, which may partially account for the extremely high rates of abuse. However, the military as a whole has a higher than average domestic abuse rate, and among U.S. bases all over the world, this is not an anomylous occurance.

EndAbuse.org suggests that military spouses may be more vulnerable to this type of abuse because of isolation from family and friends, either by geographical distance or socially by military culture.

The Department of Defence released a report in 2003 called The Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence Reports (DTFDV). This report “identifies ways to prevent and curb domestic abuse in the military and provide more timely and effective aid to victims.” The task force was created in 1999 to tackle this problem. No doubt millions of tax dollars were spent on their investigations, and sadly, this was their top reccomendation:

Culture Shift: The DoD should create a military culture that does not tolerate domestic violence, holds offenders accountable for their actions and punishes criminal behavior.

Well, no kidding! Years of research, tons of money, and this little gem was supposed to help those 800+ people at Fort Bragg? This sage advice came too late for the women murdered in 2002, and did nothing to help those recently mudered in the past 8 months.

I don’t have the answers to how to solve this problem. I just want people to be aware that it exists. It shouldn’t take murders to bring attention to an issue, but sometimes it does. Let’s all hope we don’t see another rash of murders by military members, or see the military scratching their heads about it again.

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